Uncategorized Archives - A Life We Love

Removing an Old Mobile Home – Part Two

December 13, 2016 No Comments

As I turned onto our street, I could see that the trucks were removing the old mobile home. Hooray! One side of the coach had already been pulled onto the street. The second side was being maneuvered onto the back of a truck. This all happened very fast. It was about 10 mins before the second side of the home was pulled completely onto the street.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

I feel so lucky to have arrived at the property in time to capture this amazing process, in photos, for my husband who was out of the country for work.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

As the trucks pulled away down the road I felt a rush of excitement trickle through my veins. The removal of this old mobile home is yet another large step toward simplifying our lives and beginning our next chapter in our new custom mobile home. I stared in awe at the now empty lot and imagined what the new coach will look like.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

When I drove away, I pulled out of our community and onto our main canyon road. Way in front of me I could see the mobile home caravanning toward the freeway. I sped up a bit so that I could join it’s procession out of the canyon that was home to this coach for the last 40 years. What a spectacular moment. The home is to be repurposed and given to a family who needs a dwelling down in Mexico. So all in all, everyone wins. This old mobile home, that had lived out it’s glory days here in our canyon, will have it’s own renewal. Pages are turning, chapters are ending and beginning, all is good. Goodbye old coach! May your story get sweeter as I know ours will.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

Travel, Uncategorized

Tofino, British Columbia

October 6, 2016 No Comments

tofino

Ask a Vancouver local where they stay when visiting Vancouver Island and 9 times out of 10 they are going to say Tofino. Tofino is a quaint little town on the West Coast of Vancouver Island that hugs the Pacific Ocean and is also an actual rain forest. You can hike, surf, boat, shop and eat your way through this magical little town.

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The girls and I stayed with my husband in Vancouver, Canada for 2 months over the summer. I knew that I wanted to visit Vancouver Island but didn’t have a plan on where to go until talking to locals and getting an overwhelming amount of recommendations to visit Tofino. When looking into accommodations I realized that I might have waited too long to book, due to the popularity of Tofino. Lucky for us, this guesthouse on vrbo.com had a cancellation and I jumped on it before it got swooped up by anyone else.

Tofino, BC

My brother had mentioned that he wanted to fly up from Los Angeles to come visit the girls, so I invited him to come with us on our road trip from North Vancouver to Tofino. He had no idea what he was in for. He is a single guy who works in investments and I’m not sure that a 6-hour road trip with two toddlers was exactly what he was talking about when he mentioned that he would like to fly up for a “relaxing week away”.

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It started out a bit shaky, as my brother must have asked me about 10 times in the first 24 hours why the kids talk so much. But as soon as we drove onto the ferry at Horseshoe Bay, all of the tension lifted and we began our gorgeous journey to Tofino BC. The drive alone was worth the visit.

Goats on a Roof. Coombs, Vancouver Island

As we drove across Vancouver Island, we stopped just a few times. Once in a town called Coombs. Coombs Country Market, also called Goats on a Roof, is a market and shopping area. It was the perfect place to stop for lunch. The sandwiches and salads that we ordered in the market were exceptionally good, and also there really are goats on the roof! I mean – how crazy is that? Our second stop was at West Coast Wild Zip, off of Pacific Rim Highway. My brother zip lined across a river in the forest. The view was breathtaking.

Goats on a Roof. Coombs, Vancouver Island

I originally planned to try a few of Tofino’s popular restaurants, but the weather was so fantastic that we ended up spending most nights on the beach around a bonfire. We did happen to catch a bear watching bear tour that did not disappoint. This tour company guarantees you will see bears and we did see a number of black bears fishing on the waters edge and a ton of bald eagles as well. I was told over and over to explore the Wickaninnish Inn. We ended up going for brunch and had a great experience.

Tofino, BC Tofino 7

Watching the girls run on the beach was by far the best thing about this trip. They loved chasing each other in the water and burying each other in the sand. It was also a great bonding trip. They are now closer to their uncle than they have ever been.

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Overall the road trip to Tofino was well worth the time and definitely one of the highlights of our summer in Vancouver, BC.

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Buying a Mobile Home

July 19, 2016 No Comments

We bought a mobile home in a trailer park! Let us just stare at this statement head on for a moment and get some of the obvious concerns out of the way. Is buying a mobile home our dream situation? No. Did we imagine ourselves living in a trailer park? Definitely not. Are we going to be comfortable here? Yes. Are we excited about it? Absolutely!

So here is the scoop – Buying a house in Los Angeles is not exactly easy to do unless you have a large income, bought into the housing market pre-1997, or you have a rich uncle who is willing to front you a down payment. We are in a funny spot where we could buy in a less than desirable neighborhood and be comfortable, or we could buy in a great neighborhood and be handcuffed to the hustle (aka: working our asses off so that we can keep up with the cost of living). Neither one of these options really toots my horn. So, what to do?

Buying a Mobile Home 1

Years ago we heard of this little trailer park and at the time I was not open to living there. Since then, priorities have changed greatly due to changes in health and focusing on child rearing. Finding a way to live a less stressful life in an urban city seems a lot more appealing than it use to. This trailer park I would say, on a trailer park scale, is a solid 9. There is a pool, a gym, a natural lake, it’s in a highly sought after school system, and it is surrounded by gorgeous mountains.

I was pleasantly surprised that there are a ton of young families similar to ours living in this adorable community. We found an old coach (yes that is what they are called) on a lot that allows for a small yard. We decided to re-build so the standing coach will be torn down in the next few weeks.

Buying a Mobile Home 2

Here is where the magic comes in…New home in the mountains, with a yard, and a pool for less monthly than what we are currently paying for rent. I’m floored and extremely excited. My kids can stay at their school and my husband can feel free to explore his career options while we enjoy daily life and still travel. Less stress, less pressure, and more living – SOLD.

The old coach is super groovy, and by groovy I mean it is outdated and has a lot of character. Not the kind of character that I could personally live in comfortably but I still have an appreciation for what it is and the life that has taken place inside of it. We have taken lots of pictures of the old coach so that we can look back and see how far we have come with the space.

This is where our new chapter begins.

Buying a Mobile Home 3

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Buying a Mobile Home 5

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What I Learned Flying with Toddlers

July 13, 2016 No Comments

I have to admit. The whole flying with toddlers thing seemed crazy at first. I distinctly remember meeting a mom who would frequently fly with a toddler and baby across the country by herself. The idea floored me. At the time I was only a few months in to doing this whole “life with a baby” thing with my oldest daughter. Going to Trader Joe’s, just baby and me, seemed like the hardest thing ever! She was a pro. I was sure she was some sort of mommy unicorn. This traveling mommy gave me a few tips.

Traveling with Toddlers 1

Over the course of our first daughter’s two and a half years, we flew a hand full of times. Sometimes with just my husband and me. Sometimes with our son, who provided an extra set of hands and another playmate. But when my husband got the call that his next job was to be across the world our youngest was 11 months old and our toddler was 3 and a half. My biggest fear was the flight. Not living in another country for 6 months, not being out of my daily comfort zone. My whole fear was bottled into the fact that I would have to fly with these two tiny people for a total of 21 hours (not including airport and layover time). In all, the total travel time ended up being a little over 32 hours. And this flight was just my husband, our two littlest ones, and myself. That is a 1:1 ratio!!! For the most part I don’t remember much. Which honestly is probably for the best. Not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the brutality of it all. I’ll never know. I think one of us stood in the back of a plane holding the baby in a carrier for the entirety of the flights. And our toddler’s love for anything showing on a screen saved us.

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A few things I learned flying with toddlers and babies:

Flight attendants will actually help you. This is what they do. You aren’t the first parent to travel with little ones and you won’t be the last.
People will get over your crying baby. You may get some dirty looks and if you get it really bad, you may get some less then pleasant under-the-breath comments. But the other travelers WILL get over it. Trust me.
The flight will, at some point, be over (keep your eye on the prize) and you will have good and bad moments. Just expect the worst and hope for the best.

Suddenly a 3-hour flight feels like a cakewalk. Because guess what…good or bad…it’s only 3 hours. I have had full 16-hour bad days at home. Just because you are surrounded with strangers doesn’t mean that you need to stress any more. Do the best you can and that is really all you can do.

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All in all I try my best to keep my kids happy and contained. The flights are not about me. I don’t even think about packing things for myself to do. The only thing I pack for myself in my carry on is deodorant, my toothbrush, and a change of shirt in a Ziploc bag, just in case one of the kids gets sick on me. Pretty much I’m their performance clown and that is just what it is. Maybe when they are older I can think about packing a book and sipping a cocktail mid-flight. Right now it’s game on. And that is ok.

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A Life We Love

July 6, 2016 No Comments

Almost two years ago our lives shifted. Our third child was born, our oldest child graduated high school, and we sold the home that was in our dream location. A cycle was about to end and new cycle was beginning. We felt the wind change and knew it was time to prepare for something different.

The world we knew evaporated around us. What was left was a quieter, simpler place. A place less noisy; a place where we learned to soak in the simple pleasures that use to pass us by. Who knew that so much beauty could be found in the smallest moments? Moments that usually happen unnoticed.

These days we are more tuned in, emotionally sound, and spiritually centered. We love each other deeper and our tribe has become our sanctuary. Is this what getting older feels like? If so – I love it!

So this is us soaking it all in while we focus on family, our health, and the little moments that matter most. Just us journeying down our happy path, simplifying, and living a life we love.

Living Simply with Kids